Barcelona and PSG players involved in a tunnel brawl after UCL clash

Following their UEFA Champions League encounter at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Montjuic on Tuesday night, Barcelona and PSG players were involved in a fight in the tunnel, reports Mundo Deportivo.

The match ended in a 1-4 defeat for Barcelona on the night, which knocked them out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, with PSG advancing to the final four, where they will be facing Borussia Dortmund.

What sparked the fight?

As per the report, following the match there was a major tussle between the two sets of players and some staff members as well.

It is claimed that Kylian Mbappe, who scored a brace on the night against Barcelona, might have been the instigator of the fight due to his celebrations.

“This is football and it’s on the pitch where you have to talk,” the Frenchman, who is known to be fluent in Spanish, was heard saying.

Mbappe’s celebrations sparked a tunnel brawl. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

This annoyed more than one Barça player because they felt that he was addressing them. They interpreted his celebration as a ‘joke’ and some of them went after him.

This led to a melee between both sets of players, some members of the support staff and other people, while security also got involved as the opposite camps traded insults and pushed and shoved one another.

Fortunately, things didn’t escalate and there was no aggression or physical harm, apart from the tense scenes in which members of both teams got into it.

Mbappe provokes fans

The report adds that Mbappe finished the game very excited, after scoring PSG’s last two goals to seal the tie and ended up provoking a set of Barcelona fans as well.

After celebrating the win against Barça with the rest of his teammates and the PSG fans who had travelled to Barcelona, the French forward left the pitch with great joy but also made a thoughtless gesture towards the Barça fans who were still present in the stands.

After a couple of “on y va” (‘let’s go’ in French), Mbappe made a gesture as he looked at the area where the Barça fans closest to his position were, provoking a reaction from those who had not yet left the stadium.